Covia takes time to acknowledge the dedication and leadership of Team Members who have made a significant impact on the job or in their communities by sharing their stories. Today we are happy to recognize two team members from our marketing team based in Huntersville, North Carolina – Natalie King, Brand Activation Manager, and Laura Vasseur, Senior Creative Designer and Digital Specialist. Natalie and Laura have been invaluable members of Covia’s team over the years – working to build relationships with customers through effective marketing. Read on to learn more about Natalie and Laura’s journey with Covia.
Unexpected Paths
Laura earned her undergraduate degree in art with a concentration in design from the University of North Carolina. While she originally went to school to become a physical therapist, she shifted her focus to design thanks to the encouragement of one of her professors. “I think back and realize I am so grateful for their encouragement every day,” Laura said. After finishing her studies, she had a variety of design jobs – working for a yearbook company, thread company, wind instrument company, and as a traveling artist. “I realized everybody needs marketing and design. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in.” Laura took advantage of those varied experiences, further developing the design skills she brought with her to Covia. Natalie also took a different path to get to her current role at Covia. She earned her BSM in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the University of North Carolina. She started her career in the casino industry in Atlantic City, working on special events and database management. When the company she worked for opened a new casino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Natalie moved to become their advertising and social media manager. In that role, she worked on ad creation, billboards, commercials, radio spots, and sponsorships with local sport teams. On her unique work experience, Natalie said, “I eventually found my way to Covia – trading in the glitz and glamor of Atlantic City to help sell sand.”
Building Connections
Laura’s work at Covia involves frequent research and coordination with the sales team. Laura often works on Covia’s website, updating content about our products and markets, updating layouts and templates, and developing landing pages for upcoming trade shows and product launches. She also helps develop, track, and report on digital ad campaigns. Laura’s work helps ensure Covia’s digital presence reflects our values and meets our customers’ preferences and needs. On top of her digital work, Laura oversees the design of Covia’s packaging material. For instance, Laura designs the appearance of the 50-pound bags of mineral products that get sent out to customers, adding branding and critical legal information to ensure compliance and uniformity. Her keen eye for design plays an important role in how our customers view and interact with Covia’s products. Natalie works closely with the sales team and the strategic marketing team to identify focus areas for Covia’s customers and how Covia can help create an innovative solution to support their unique ideas and opportunities. Because Covia serves such a wide variety of markets, Natalie and her team work to be adaptable, creating messages that make a connection with each of those different customers. Natalie noted, “We need to be able to speak to those different groups – making sure Covia can create a unique solution tailored to those industries. Our golf market is going to have different opportunities than our customers in architectural coatings.” Thanks to Natalie, Laura, and our marketing team, Covia has been able to better understand our audiences, which guides our approach and the services offered. Natalie and Laura work closely with both Covia’s strategic marketing team, who conduct deep dives into potential applications that can be marketed, and Covia’s sales team. Working with both teams, Natalie and Laura help identify the key solutions that Covia’s marketing campaigns should focus on. They tailor the messaging and creative to resonate with the different end markets and customer segments that Covia serves. Leveraging customer insights from the sales team and market research from the strategy team, Natalie and Laura determine what our customers might need and how Covia can deliver that solution.
Marketing Campaigns that Inspire
Covia delivers more than just high-quality minerals and mineral solutions. We are an industry leader that is constantly troubleshooting and seeking unique ways to support customers' success. We’re able to deliver these innovative solutions to our customers because team members like Laura, Natalie, and others on the marketing team are great at researching, communicating, problem-solving, and using marketing to strengthen our relationship with our customers. A great example of this is Laura and the marketing team’s work on the “Don’t Fear the Filler” advertising campaign. The campaign was in response to the growing concern with the use of “fillers” in plastic films, which can result in a cloudy final product. Covia’s mineral fillers are carefully engineered to have very little negative effect on film clarity, providing a high-quality product that our customers have come to expect over the years. The campaign, which has been running for a year now, was an exciting one to take on. Laura commented, “I had a good time working on the project. ‘Don’t Fear the Filler’ is such a fun tag line, and it was nice to create a campaign that has resonated with our customers.” From our trade show booth to our digital ads, the powerful message and attention-grabbing headlines and visuals of this campaign successfully connected with our customers and demonstrated why our solutions are different.
Innovations and Personal Projects
Covia’s marketing team is hard at work to find new and exciting ways to connect with our customers. Laura and her team have begun releasing a series of videos that use innovative technologies to remaster older marketing videos, such as a recent one featuring the Minbloc® High-Clarity antiblock additive. “This gives us more opportunities to share our messages in different places without committing to new video shoots,” Laura said. The final product was showcased at our tradeshow booth and on our digital channels. “I’m excited about the possibilities of remastering more videos in the future.” Natalie, who helped launch Covia’s LUMINEX™ ultrawhite filler and CRISTOBALEX™ ultrawhite reflective filler, particularly enjoys working on product launches. “I’m excited to see products come to market. It gives us opportunities to create campaigns – helping these products from the ground level to the marketplace,” Natalie said. “Product launches are fun. You get to be creative – come up with names, figure out how to deliver the messages to the public, and find out who the best audience is for a particular product message. It’s very exciting.” For Laura, who has always been artistic, creativity does not end at work. From photography to painting and graphic design, Laura is always looking for new and exciting ways to practice her craft in her free time. “I would say I’m honing my skills, but it’s more about having fun,” she commented. Covia provides Natalie more than just a career, but a way to pursue her passion for volunteering. Natalie added, “I may not be the creative guru Laura is, but the emphasis that Covia places on volunteering is near and dear to my heart.” Natalie, an active volunteer in her community, enjoys utilizing Covia’s volunteer PTO program to give back to organizations that matter to her – such as the local nonprofit Angels and Sparrows.
